1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a managing system in an image forming apparatus such as a copier, printer, facsimile transceiver or similar photographic image forming apparatus which electrostatically forms an image on an image carrier.
More particularly, the invention is concerned with a managing system for informing users of jamming of a transfer sheet, and of the need for maintenance or repair, in accordance with predetermined conditions set by the users, with an appropriate recovery procedure depending on an application usage, and based on criteria which is determined by users.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional managing system for an image forming apparatus of this kind is already known from Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2-259663 which discloses an information collecting system in an image forming apparatus.
In the information collecting system, when the image forming apparatus undergoes a failure which requires maintenance or repair, various kinds of information in regard to the application usage of the image forming apparatus are transmitted to a host computer for managing the system so that a maintenance or repair operation of the image forming apparatus (hereinafter simply referred to as a repair) may be efficiently and correctly performed.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional information collecting system of the image forming apparatus, when the image forming apparatus, such as a copier, has a paper jam or otherwise requires repair, all the information pertaining to the problem is automatically transmitted to the host computer. There arises a drawback that the information collecting system of the image forming apparatus can not cope with the following situation.
In a paper jam or other failure mode of the copier, it is not necessary to transmit information to the host computer to perform the repair immediately after the first occurrence of a jam of the transfer sheet. A simple maintenance operation at the copier to clear the jam is sufficient. A criteria for judging whether transmitting information to the host computer that the repair is to be performed should be based on the frequency of the occurrence of the jam of the transfer sheet. This criteria for judging whether the repair is to be performed is judged differently for different application usages and is determined by users.
At the time of the occurrence of a jam of the transfer sheet, if the jam continues for a long period of time without correction, it should be necessary to inform the host computer to that an immediate repair operation is necessary.
In the above-mentioned case, the need for an immediate repair operation cannot be correctly assessed by the conventional information collecting system of the image forming apparatus. Since the judgement for the necessity of the repair operation cannot be correctly made at the time of the jam of the transfer sheet, it will be difficult to decide whether to perform the repair operation correctly and efficiently. The running time of the image forming apparatus thus increases.